


Hurt

by ImOutOfMyVulcanMind (LoopyLu94)



Series: Tumblr Celebration Stories [11]
Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 10:20:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13785447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoopyLu94/pseuds/ImOutOfMyVulcanMind
Summary: Things go south on an away mission. You need medical aid, but there's no way to contact the ship. Leonard makes a tough decision.





	Hurt

You didn’t dare look back as you sprinted through the forest, and you didn’t need to. You knew your Klingon attackers were close behind you. It had been a surprise attack. You’d been a part of an away mission whose only purpose was to gather research on a newly discovered uninhabited planet. The attack had come from nowhere, with no warning. You didn’t know if the Klingons had been waiting to ambush you, or if it was just a case of bad timing, but shots had been fired before you even knew what was happening. Jim had shouted for you to take cover, and before you could think of which way to run, Leonard had grabbed your hand and pulled you in the same direction as he was. But you’d been spotted, and two Klingons took chase after you both, forcing you to keep running instead of finding a place to hide.

You spared a glance down to where Leonard was still clutching your hand in a death grip, then a glance up at his face. Leonard was still staring straight ahead, intent concentration mingled with fear etched onto his features. He was breathing as heavily as you were, neither of you were trained for this much running at this speed, and you knew that sooner or later one or both of you was going to run out of energy if you didn’t halt.

That moment came sooner than you expected when Leonard suddenly skidded to a stop, forcing you to stop with him. You instantly saw why as rocks crumbled under your feet, and went tumbling down the edge of the ravine you were teetering over. You stared down into the water below, then looked left and right, before looking behind you. The sound of movement filtered through the trees, followed by the noise of two Klingons speaking to each other. You looked back down off the edge of the cliff. There was nowhere left for you to run. Going left or right would leave you open targets, and you weren’t armed to be able to make a stand.

“We have to jump.”

Leonard, who’d been watching the edge of the trees spun around to look at you, “What!?”

“We have to jump. It’s the only way we’re getting out of this. We’ve a better chance of making the fall than we do staying here.”

Leonard stared at you a second longer, then looked down too. The voices were getting louder as Leonard looked back up and nodded. “Okay.” He took a firmer grip of his medkit and kept his hold on your hand as you both retreated a few steps.

“Ready? One. Two. Three.” As you spoke the final word you both took off at a run and launched yourselves off the edge of the ravine. You heard shouts behind you, and phaser bolts flew through the air, barely missing you as you and Leonard tumbled down towards the water.

The river was fast approaching, and you squeezed Leonard’s hand tightly and closed your eyes as you braced yourself for the impact.

~

“Y/N? Y/N wake up.”

Leonard’s voice filtered through your head, as you slowly came around, and you blinked your eyes open before quickly shutting them again at the bright light. “Len?” You asked groggily, your voice sounding strange to your ears. The last thing you remembered was the ice cold water surrounding you as you fell into it, and the current sweeping you along and trying to break your grasp of Leonard.

“Hey there, darlin’. You got yourself knocked out on one of the rocks. I was only just able to pull you onto the bank.” You could hear the concern in Leonard’s voice, so again attempted to open your eyes, this time succeeding. Leonard’s face came into focus above you, his features reflecting the concern in his voice. You could see that he had a few cuts and scratches on his face, and his uniform was torn in a few places.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine. You’re the one I’m concerned about. You’ve likely got a concussion, but does it hurt anywhere else?” Leonard asked you gently.

You ached everywhere, especially your head, and you were freezing cold and soaking wet, but you didn’t feel any terrible pain. “I’m alright I think, just so-AH!” You cried out in pain as you soon as you attempted to move, a sharp stabbing pain hitting your left side and spread all the way to your shoulder. “Len.”

“I’m here, sweetheart. Where does it hurt?”  

“Left…up to my shoulder,” you answered, watching Leonard nod then turn to grab his medkit. You saw immediately when he hesitated and frowned. “What is it?”

“My kit. It’s gotten damaged.” Leonard turned back around and held up the battered medkit. “I’ve lost most of my supplies.” Opening the kit as he spoke, Leonard shifted through what he had left. “My tricorder is in here though, so that’s something. I can at least find out what-” Leonard cut himself off as he pulled open the device to reveal the giant crack down the middle of the screen.

“Can you get it to work?”

Leonard glanced up at you, “I can try,” he murmured, returning his attention to the tricorder. You watched as he fiddled with it, trying to swallow down the rising panic in your chest. The pain had lessened once you’d stopped moving, but it was still present, and being stuck out here with no decent medical aid was terrifying. The device in Leonard’s hands flickered to life, and you breathed a tiny sigh of relief. “Okay. It’s not working perfectly, but I should be able to get a decent look at what’s wrong.”

You nodded, laying perfectly still as Leonard scooted closer to you, and held the tricorder over your midsection. You waited, forcing yourself to keep your breathing steady. After a long couple minutes, Leonard shut the tricorder and set it to one side. He smiled as he took your hand, and the worry in your gut lessoned some. “You have a small tear in your spleen. It’s bleeding a little, and we need to get it patched, but it’s not as bad as I’d feared. Once we’re back on the Enterprise you’ll be right as rain in no time,” Leonard told you with a reassuring squeeze to your hand. “Alright, sweetheart?”

You nodded, managing to return Leonard’s smile. “Yeah,” you murmured. You were with Leonard, the person you trusted most in the world. Of course you’d be fine. “What now?”

“We need to get hold of the ship. Get ourselves beamed out,” Leonard told you, staying by your side as he dug into his pocket and pulled out his communicator. “McCoy to Enterprise, come in.” There was dead silence on the other end of the line, not even static. You shared a glance with Leonard as he pressed a few buttons, to try and get it to work. “McCoy to Enterprise, do you read me?” Again, nothing. With a sigh, Leonard snapped it shut, and pocketed it. “Do you have yours?”

“Left pants pocket,” You answered, and Leonard reached in to pluck it out. You could already see the water still dripping from it though, your heart falling along with the droplets. Leonard flipped it open to try anyway.

“McCoy and Y/L/N to Enterprise? Is anyone there? We need beaming now.” The irritation slipped into Leonards tone unbidden as your communicator failed too.

“Hey, Len, it’s okay. Jim and the others will be out looking for us right now. They’ll find us,” You attempted to soothe, rubbing Leonard’s hand.

Leonard sighed again as he brought his eyes up to meet yours. “We can’t just wait around, Y/N. That injury needs treating, sooner rather than later, and we haven’t got the hours it could take for them to find us down here.” Leonard tucked some damp hair behind your ear. You could see the gears in his brain whirling as he tried to figure out what to do. “I’ll go look for them. I haven’t heard anything in ages so those Klingon bastards should be gone by now. It’ll save time.”

It would’ve taken an injury worse than you had for you to miss Leonard’s choice of words. “You’ll go? As in by yourself?”

“I don’t have a choice. You can’t move, and you need treatment. I have to go.”

“No.” Fear gripped at you, and in turn, you gripped Leonard’s arms just as tightly. “No, you can’t. Please, Len.  _Please…don’t leave me here. Don’t leave me alone, without you.”_  You pleaded, clutching at Leonard’s uniforms as tears prickled at the corner of your eyes.

“Darlin’…” Leonard shifted, using his free hand to cup your cheek. “Believe me when I say this is the last thing I want. But someone has to go.”

“Then take me with you.”

Leonard shook his head sadly, “I can’t. If you move you could rupture your spleen completely. Then we’d go from a few hours to no time at all.”

You could see the pain in Leonard’s eyes as he spoke, how much it was hurting him to leave you. If he could be strong, then so could you, you decided. Steeling yourself, you managed another tight smile. “Okay. Okay.”

Leonard breathed a sigh and nodded. “I’ll be as quick as I can, darlin’. You stay here, and don’t move, got it? Stay as still as you can.”

“Yes, Doctor McCoy,” you teased softly, reaching up to run your fingers through his hair. “Hurry back.”

“Be back before you know it,” Leonard murmured, leaning to press a tender kiss to your lips. “Love you.”

“Love you too.” You watched as Leonard straightened up and looked around.

“Don’t move,” he told you again, waiting for your nod before walking off. You were able to watch him for awhile, but eventually he disappeared out of your eye line.

You closed your eyes once he was gone and heaved a deep, shuddering breath. You missed him already. It was deathly silent around you, and it was scary. It felt as though you were the only one on the planet, which, you thought, might actually be true. The others could have gone already, and anything could have happened to Leonard. What if something had gone wrong? He could have fallen or been more seriously hurt that he’d made out. You started to panic again, your breaths coming in short sharp pants, as you felt the tears prick at your eyes again. You wanted Leonard. Wanted him to come back and hold you, your injury be damned. Anything would be better than this.

You shivered. The climate was too cool to dry you off so water still clung to you, seeping into your skin. It was impossible to tell how much time had gone by. Each minute felt like an eternity so it could’ve been ten minutes or ten hours. All you knew was that it was getting harder and harder to try and stay calm.

Then you heard the noise.

Your eyes snapped open and you froze, even holding your breath. Another noise. It sounded like more than one person. Was Leonard back with help?

The Klingons spoke and your stomach dropped. They were still here? You looked around. You were a sitting duck on the bank. If they saw you, you had no cover. You needed to find somewhere to hide.

Not trusting yourself to be able to stand, and not wanting to make yourself an even bigger target, you began to crawl along the riverbank, sticking to the rock face as much as possible. It was slow going, but you could still hear the Klingons so didn’t dare stop. You’d moved a few meters when up ahead you spotted a dip in the rock. A small cave perhaps? That would work. Your energy was rapidly dwindling, but you forced yourself to keep moving. Close. So close.

You reached the spot, and thankfully there was a small cave. Dragging yourself inside it, you collapsed on the ground, panting heavily. Your left side hurt more than ever. You’d forced yourself not to think about it, but now it was agony. You couldn’t even move. The cave spun around you as you tried to steady your breathing. It was so hard though. It hurt so much, and you felt the tears slip free.

“Len…” you whispered as darkness claimed you.

~

The first thought you had was that the rock your head was resting on was actually pretty comfortable. The second thought was that your head wasn’t resting on a rock at all. It was an actual pillow. Gradually, you became aware of a steady beeping behind you. You were on a biobed. Which meant you were on a ship. Hopefully yours.

You blinked your eyes open, taking in the darkened room. You were in a private room on the Enterprise, you’d know it anywhere. A muffled snuffle to your right caught your attention, so you turned your head. Leonard was slumped on a chair next to you, sound asleep with his hair sticking up wildly.

Slowly, you reached out and touched his hand. Leonard startled awake immediately, straight up on his feet once he saw you awake. “Y/N…” Leonard studied the screen above you, then once seeing you were okay, sat back down and took your hand again. “How’re you feeling?”

You paused a moment, assessing. “A little sore, but not too bad.”

“Good. You’re damned lucky, Y/N. You were out cold when we found you, the tear in your spleen was way worse. You nearly bled out,” Leonard told you, ordering the lights a little a brighter, bright enough for you to clearly make out the deep frown on his face.

“I know, I didn’t want to…”

“I told you not to move!”

“There were Klingons! I would’ve died if I’d stayed!”

“You nearly died anyway!”

“Then you shouldn’t have left me alone!” You shouted, watching Leonard’s words die on his lips. You sniffed, looking down at your lap. “I had no idea what to do, Len. I was cold and hurting, and scared, and all alone. Then I hear Klingons and know that they’ll see me if I don’t do something. I had no one to help me!”

You fell silent, twisting the bedsheets in your hands. After a minute, Leonard reached over and placed his hand over yours. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know there were Klingons, we came across them on our way back for you. Jim took them down. I was just so worried. We got to where I left you, and there was no sign. I didn’t know if they’d taken you, or…or worse. And when we did find you, you were unresponsive. What should have been a simple fix turned into an emergency.” Leonard squeezed your hand as he spoke.

“I know. I know how stupid it was to move, but I had no choice,” you whispered.

“I know you didn’t, darlin’. I shouldn’t have left you. If I hadn’t, maybe…maybe I could’ve done something. Drawn their attention so you wouldn’t have had to move.”

You looked over to Leonard, seeing his downcast gaze focused on your joined hands. You squeezed his hand back. Leonard looked up at you, and you offered a small smile that he returned. “It’s not your fault, Len. I didn’t mean to yell and blame you. But I was so afraid down there.”

Leonard swallows thickly, Adam’s apple bobbing, and nodded. “I was scared too. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing you. I love you.”

“I love you too,” you murmured, sinking back into the bed. You were so tired suddenly. “When can I go?”

“Everything went well in surgery, so hopefully in the morning. “

You nodded. You’d hoped for sooner, but you hadn’t really expected it. “Will you hold me? I don’t want to be on my own.”

“Of course. Anything for you, darlin’,” Leonard smiled, helping you move over so he could lie along the edge of the bed. It was a tight squeeze, but it just about worked. Carefully Leonard held you close to him, and you sighed contentedly as you relaxed into his embrace. This was what you wanted. “Try and get some sleep. You need rest.”

You nodded, closing your eyes. Finally you were safe and with Leonard. Things were okay. You nuzzled into Leonard’s chest, taking in his familiar soapy clean scent as you relaxed. “Love you, Len,” you mumbled as you drifted off to sleep.

Leonard kissed your head and smiled, “Love you too, darlin’. Love you so much.”


End file.
